Poesia e propaganda: la duplice elezione a Re dei Romani di Alfonso X di Castiglia e di Riccardo di Cornovaglia (1257) nei carmi di un notaio milanese

This article reconstructs the historical, literary and documentary context of a collection of poems and a letter written in support of Alfonso X of Castile’s disputed election as King of the Romans in 1257. The study places these texts within a sizeable Lombard epistolary dossier created in the areas of Milan and Brescia. It demonstrates the these texts served as instruments of political propaganda and as evidence of direct cultural interaction between Northern Italian notarial circles and the Castilian court. A philological analysis of the manuscrit tradition clarifies questions of authorship, social milieu and collaboration among those who promoted Alfonso’s imperial claim. The discussion emphasises the poet’s use of animal allegories, moral exempla and classical references from Virgil and Ovid to glorify Alfonso and disparage his rival, Richard of Cornwall